MILAN — Falling behind for a second consecutive game at the Olympics after never trailing throughout group play, Canada dug itself an even deeper hole in the semifinals against Finland.
Down two goals against an opponent also full of NHL players, the tournament favorite did not look the slightest bit shaken.
“There wasn’t really any panic,” center Nick Suzuki said. “We were going to get our chances eventually.”
Then, the most talented roster in Milan buried those chances. Sam Reinhart deflected Cale Makar’s shot in to start the comeback, Shea Theodore tied it on a blast through traffic and Nathan MacKinnon scored the go-ahead goal with 35.2 seconds left to advance to the gold medal game with a 3-2 victory Friday night.
Canada will play the U.S. — a 6-2 winner over Slovakia in the other semifinal — for the gold medal Sunday.
“You could definitely feel the sense of calm, having been through that before,” Connor McDavid said. “We understood we were in a tough spot, and we had to find a way to get out of it. And we did.”
Makar thought he and his teammates were more comfortable down 2-0 against Finland than when they fell behind against Czechia twice in the quarterfinals, including with seven minutes left.
It showed. After Erik Haula scored shorthanded to make it a two-goal deficit early in the second period, Canada outshot Finland, 31-8, the rest of the way.
Juuse Saros was terrific in net for Finland, and Canada coach Jon Cooper was worried only about getting shut out by a hot goaltender. Reinhart’s goal with 4:40 left in the second cut some of the tension, and it was clear the game was turning.
“We definitely felt the momentum shift a little bit,” forward Sam Bennett said. “We thought our pressure was good. It was just a relentless pressure that we knew eventually we’d be able to crack them.”
Cooper was also glad his players didn’t wait until three minutes left to tie it like in the quarterfinals. Theodore’s goal came with 9:26 left in regulation after Brad Marchand was on top of Saros following a shove from Haula.
“Brad’s being Brad, and I like to have Brad,” Cooper said of Marchand, who got pushed but didn’t do much to stop falling into the opposing goalie.
MacKinnon took over late, looking like a man on a mission and drawing a second high-sticking penalty on Niko Mikkola. On the ensuing power play, McDavid sent a perfect cross-ice saucer pass over penalty killer Roope Hintz’s stick to MacKinnon, who sneaked the puck short side through a miniscule hole with Macklin Celebrini setting a screen by jumping.
It held up on video review after Finland challenged that the play was offside.
“It was a five-man effort,” MacKinnon said. “Connor made an amazing play, Cale was doing his thing, Reino same thing. Obviously, happy one squeaked in. Yeah, great pass.”
Canada came back again without injured captain Sidney Crosby, who left the quarterfinal game Wednesday night with an apparent right knee injury. McDavid wore the “C” in Crosby’s absence and had two assists to break the record for the most points by an NHL player at a single Olympics with 13.
“We’re a deep team with leaders all up and down the lineup,” McDavid said. “It doesn’t matter who’s wearing the ‘C,’ who’s in the lineup, who’s out of the lineup. Everybody can play a big role and lead, and you saw that again.”
Cooper said there’s still time to decide if Crosby can play in the final Sunday.
Canada’s stacked lineup, even missing Crosby, eventually broke through the Finnish trap that slows players down and intercepts the puck before an opponent can go deep into the offensive zone. Instead of getting frustrated, some of the best players on the roster led the way, with Celebrini shooting just about every chance he had.
Celebrini, Canada’s youngest player at 19, put eight pucks on net. That’s almost as many shots on goal Finland had as a team in the second and third periods combined, with nine.
“I’ve seen him play enough for a while,” winger Mitch Marner said. “He’s got a lot of skill and a lot of confidence. He’s not afraid of the big moments.”
